Mary Stephenson

Mary Stephenson constructs enigmatic painted environments where interiority, emotion, and the subconscious are brought into uneasy focus. Her scenes often feature sparse, surreal spaces populated by symbolic objects—furniture, food, or architectural fragments—rendered with a strange, theatrical intensity. These elements act less as props and more as stand-ins for psychological states, forming stage-like compositions that blur the line between narrative and abstraction. Figures, when present, are often distorted or displaced, amplifying the sense of disorientation and emotional tension. Her process balances precision with a willingness to let images unravel. Paint is applied in translucent layers, often using zinc white to veil and expose forms beneath the surface, creating a sense of temporal layering and ghostly presence. Objects may appear both solid and immaterial, hovering between memory and invention. Stephenson treats painting as a space where internal experience can be externalized—where instability, humor, vulnerability, and estrangement coexist. Through this careful orchestration of space, texture, and mood, her work opens up an emotional atmosphere that feels at once intimate and estranged, inviting viewers into a psychological landscape that resists resolution but lingers in the mind. ...

Commonwealth and Council is a gallery in Koreatown, Los Angeles founded in 2010. Our program is rooted in our commitment to explore how a community of artists can sustain our co-existence through generosity and hospitality. Commonwealth and Council celebrates our manifold identities and experiences through the shared dialogue of art—championing practices by women, queer, POC, and our ally artists to build counter-histories that reflect our individual and collective realities. ...